Rail expander and contractor



A. L. WARNER..

RAIL EXPANDER AND CONTRACTOR.

APPLICATION FILED IAII.26. I92Q,

2 SHEETS-SHEET l.

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A L. WARNER.

RAIL EXPANDER AND CONTRACTOR.

APPLICATION FILED IAN.26, 1920.

Patented Apr. n, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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Specicaton of Letters Patent. Patented dipf.. ill, 1922- Application filed January 26, 1920. Serial No. 354,149. f

Yo all fao/0m t may concer/fi Be it known that l, e. .fi-non L. Annan, a citizen of the United Luttes, residing at Elgin, in the county otlane and State olf illinois, have invented certain new and use- `lful improvements in lxpanders and Contractors, of which the following; is a speciication. f

This invention relates to improvements in rail expande-rs and contractors.

Rail expanders are ordinarily employed to separate the confronting ends ot adjacent rails so that sutlicient space may he provided for the interposition ot the necessary insulation.

Vifarious forms oi eXpanders have been proposed, some employing, one screw to it'orce the rails apart and others employing one or more screws on opposite sides ot the rails.

The single screw eXpanders heretofore proposed are open to the objection that the eX- panding forces are unsymmetrically or unequally applied to the rail with the result that the ends or the vrails are warped or skewed out of properalignment. rlhe warping of the rails causes the screw to bind, and operation becomes ditlicult or impossibl.V

The multi screw expanders. are objection able ybecause the operation et one screw causes the others to bind and, in order to attain any degree of satisfaction, the dilierent screws must be operated simultaneously or by relatively slight equal amounts in rota* tion. Y

One of the objects of' this invention is to provide an improved rail expander and contractor.

Another object is to provide single screw expander and contractor which will exert equalized or symmetrically applied .torce's upon the head of the rail.

Another object is to provide a device in which the sliewing` action is materially reduced or entirely eliminated.

Another object is to provide a. device which clamps the adjacent rails on the tace and under opposite sides ot the head. y

Another object is to provide a devi-ce wherein the operating screw is in the vertical plane of the rail axis and close to the face of therail head.

Another object is to provide a device which may be used readily with different sizes lot rails and may be employed close to switch frogs. Y'

direction but diiierent pitch. s

vOther, r'urtherand more particular objects of my invention will become readily apparentA to persons skilled in the art trom* a consideration or the following description when taken in conjunction with the draw ings, wherein Fig. 1 is a perspective view of theexpander device with its clamps secured to adjacent ends o two rails.

Fig. 2 is an end view ot the same.

Fig. 3 is a plan of the left hand clamp and a section, just above the tace ot the rail, of the right hand clamp.

Fig. l shows the left side, or end, an elevation of one side of the clamp, while the right side shows a vertical, central section.

Fig. 5 shows a section taken on line of Fig. 3. v-

in all the views the same reference characters are employed to indicate similar parts.

The device shown has a clamp 10, on one endo-f the screw threaded spindle 11 and a clamp 12 on the other end. rlhe spindle 11, is provided with a thread 13 on one end,

of relatively coarse pitch, and a thread 14 on theother end.J with liner pitch. Both threads are in the same spiral direction, that is to say :the screw orvspindle 1,3 bears two `groups of like threads of different pitch. The clamp members 10and 12 are substantial dupllcates of each other. l have therefore indicated the several parts with reference characters diierentiated onlyby the exponent prime The clamps 10 and 12 engage the ends 15 and 160i adjacent rails. `.Each clamp is provided Awith a saddle 17. The saddle, 17, has outwardly extending ends 18, and acens trally depressed portion 19. The portion 19, of the saddle, has in its tace two corrugated, hardened steel plates 20.' These plates are for 'contact with the tread surface or face 21 of the rail. rlhe saddle, 17, also provides two spaced'apart shoulders 22 on each of its sides, between which are positioned two lower jaws 23 yand 211. The'jaws, 23 and 24, are provided with a relatively Wide rib 25 sov ioo

' under the Vhead ofthe rail, then the deviceV lis clear of thefrails.

for inclusion between the shoulders 22 on the saddle 17 as clearly shown in Fig. 1.

kthe jaws, 23 and v24, respectively. One o f the objects of elongating the holes 26a and 27 is to enable the jaws to be quickly and conveniently removed from the rail. To remove the clamps from the rails, one of the vertical fscrews26or 27 is loosened until the outer end A32 or 33 of the jaws drops 'down below the end 35 of the saddle, whereupon ythe loosened screw and jaw may be moved until its gripping plates 28 are no longer may be rotated laterally,thev other'j aw :serving'V as the fulcrumfuntil the loosened jaw This operation saves the necessity of entirely removingeitherof the jaws to take .the device from th'e'rails.

The inner ends of these jaws are'each prof face lof the head of the rail is more or lessV tapered and screws 30 and 31 passthrough `the outer extending end 18, of the saddle l17, and engage the outer extended ends 32 and of the jaws, 23 and 24, respectively. The object of the vscrews, 30 and 31, is to maintain the inclination of the clamping surfaces of the jaws, 23 Vand 24C, for all sizes of the rai] head with which they'engage. A part ofthe end 18 of the saddle projectsdownwardly,as at 35. to holdthe clamping surfaces 28 up to the rail/whenV the screws26 and 27 are'rotated for producing the clamping effect; The youter ends of jaws, 23 and 24T, are elevated, so .as toravoid guard rails, or frog' rails, which are substantially'ipar-v allel with the rails to which the device is applied.

The saddle 17 is reinforced, as at 36, to

provide metal for the spindle screw 11, and

for the screws 26 and 27. The screw 11 lis placed between the vertical screws, 26 and 27, in, a recess or hollow 37 just above the ypart 19 'that is immediately above the rail.

This'hri'ngs the screw 11 immediately over thefrail and in axial vertical position therewith. vThe screwll is enlarged, in a centra] portion. yas at-39. The enlarged part 39de -prox-*ided with holes 40 into which a bar-may be insertedfor rotating the screw.

lEach `clampof the expander gripsor bites the'correspondinglrail'on the face'and un-' linetric'allj; applied relative to the head'cross section. The forces are therefore equalized and there is substantially no tendency toV skew or warp the rails out of alignment.

Each Clamp gives the eifect of'a three point application,ofthrust or pull'upon the rail head cross section.

A. differential action of the screw 11, is

due to the differences in the thread pitch of.' y

the two threaded ends, which produces relatively small increments 'of movement of the clamps yfrom or toward each other with each more .power with less effort than could be practically accomplished with a spindle pro- Y Y vided with a right Vand left hand screw thread on its respective ends, or with afspinvdle axially fixed at one end andpprovided with a very line screw thread pitch at the other end.. The latter construction would be particularly inexpedient owing to lthe lack of strengthof the relatively fine threads incident to the slight pitch thereof. In the present` case the threads 13 and 14: are both relatively coarse and there is a slight dilerence in the pitch of the respective threads which produces the desired effect and ren- `ders the screw spindle unusually powerful and strong Afor the purpose intended.

The rotation of the spindle requires larger numberof impulses to separate the cl amps a given-distance but the Iresistance to rotation is correspondingly less vthan if -a right hand screw lthread were usedon one end and a left hand'thread on theother.

While'one use of the device is to separate adjacent rails for a definite purpose, it is clearly apparent that by rotating the spinldle in an opposite direction, the endsfoffthe rails may 'be made to approach each other.`

Having described my invention what 1 claim as new and desire to secure byy Letters Patent is Y 1. A rail-expander andfcontractorhavingV Y a pair of clamps each with adjustable jaws,

each aw having aplurality of rail contacting surfaces .for engagingthe face anddiametrically opposite sides of the bottom of the head of adjacent rails, and a single screw cooperating with both clamps and operableto cause the-clamps to approach and recedev from each other. Y

2. A r-ail expander and contractor having a pair of rail clampseach provided with jaws, each jaw having a plurality ofrail contacting` surfaces capable of exertingequ-alized forces upon the rail head in the direction of its length, land 'a single screw provided with two sets-of ydifferential threads separated in the same direction and off differentipitch `which coopera-te with'the clamps to Vcause the same to approach and recede from each other'when the screw isturned.v

3. 'A rail'expander 'and contractor corn` prising a pairof clamps, each clamp having a relatively fixed upper jaw to grip the kface of a rail head and two adjustable lower jaws having a plurality of rail-contacting surraces for gripping' diametrically opposite sides of the rail below the face; and a single screw having groups of like'threads of different pitch cooperating with bothclamps and operable to cause the same to approach and recede from each other.

rail expander and contractor comprising ay pair of rail clamps, each having an upper jaw for gripping the face of a rail, and a pair ot independently adjustable lower jaws for gripping the rail on diametrically opposite sides below the face; and a single screw having groups or' like threads of different pitch threading into both clamps and operable upon rotation to cause the clamps to approach and recede from each other.

A rail expander and contractor lcomprising a pair of rail clamps, each having an upper plural contact jaw for gripping the tace of a rail, and a pair of lower plurality contact jaws for gripping opposite sides of the rail below the face; and a single screw having groups of likethreads/o1 different pitch symmetrically arranged' relative tothe jaws of each clamp and cooperating V'with both clamps to exert equalized forces upon each rail to cause the ends of the same to approacli and recede from each other.

6. A rail expander and contractor comprising a pair of rail gripping clamps, each having symmetrically arranged jaws to grip a rail between them; and a single screw having groups o' like threads of different pitch i positioned to lie substantially in a vertical plane passing through the axis of a rail and cooperating with -both clamps to cause the same to approach and recede from each other. v

7. A rail expander and contractor comprising a pair of rail clamps, each clamp `having an upper jaw and two lower jaws,

ARTHUR L. waaraan 

